Piha

No plan is a plan right?

Wednesday, March 19th
There's a small group of us who tend to never have a plan. We had the plan to go to Piha and to go hiking but no directions or any idea of where we were going. Normally I'm the type of person who likes to have everything mapped out, however, in New Zealand,  having no plan is the best plan. 7 of us (Caroline, Pat, Taylor, Maggie, Anna and Mickey) rented a mini van for the day and we ventured off to Piha (side note: this mini had a ginormous sun roof so it was actually pretty cool). It was a windy trip and we had to make a couple U-turns but eventually we made it to North Piha beach. The sand was black and it was one of the most majestic beach. We decided to climb Lion Rock which was this rock formation in the middle of the beach. Later when we drove up to a surf shop we were informed that Piha beach is also known as killer beach. Many people have fallen from Lion Rock (but one girl climbed it in heels... r.i.p though). The lady who we met at the surf shop was the sweetest woman in the world. She showed us the newborn baby chicks and the view from her balcony. We even got to tour around the accommodations. It would definitely be fun to come back and stay in the cabins and go surfing for a weekend (shout out: Auntie M for those surf lessons). The woman suggested we hike into KiteKite Falls just down the road. It was a 30 minute hike in and there were wasps everywhere. We swam in the falls that were ice cold but when your body went numb it was somewhat enjoyable. It ended up being a successful day minus the multiple wrong turns on the way home. And to top the day off, we ate at Chilando, a chipotle-like place.